More Young Achievers In Danger Of Retrenchment

More young achievers are in danger of retrenchment, Liberty’s 2015 claim statistics show.

Young achievers claimed mainly for income protection benefits, with retrenchments being the main cause of claim. Of total claims among young achievers, retrenchment claims accounted for 15.9%, followed by cancer (12.3%) and motor vehicle accidents (11.9%). Motor vehicle accidents involved the main cause of claims among young men.

“Our claim statistics suggest that more young achievers are in danger of retrenchment,” said Nicholas van der Nest, director of risk product innovation at Liberty Retail.

This year Liberty reported claims statistics by segment groups, namely young achievers, young parents, established providers and empty nesters.

“Although the top five claims causes are responsible for 64.9% of all claims paid, the more interesting findings are in respect of what our segments have claimed for,” said Van der Nest.

“The vast majority of payments (R2.48bn or 57% of the total claims paid) were for death claims. At least R678m was paid in respect of critical illness, which provides payment to help customers make the lifestyle adjustments required following diagnosis with a critical illness.

A total of R407m was paid for income protection, including both lump sum and monthly income claims. Cancer was the main cause of claims for all other segments at 22.5% (young parents), 26.9% (established providers) and 25.6% (for empty nesters) of claims respectively. Female breast cancer and male prostate cancer drove these results to a differing extent for each of the segments.